Kougane
, or Kogane in different publications, is , who is the main antagonist in Kamen Rider Gaim: The Great Soccer Match! The Golden Fruit Cup!. It later returns in the series finale as the female , serving as the series' final villain. History Golden Fruit Cup Kougane is the manifestation of an artificial Golden Fruit created by the Over Lords in the past. When an experiment by Ryoma goes wrong, Kougane awakens and kills him. Kougane's existence causes the Armored Riders to lust after each other for the "Golden Fruit". Slowly, the Armored Riders start to kill each other off as Kougane masquerades as Yuya to get to Kouta. The deaths of the fallen Armored Riders strengthens Kougane's "Golden Ringo" Lockseed. When it is revealed that he is not really Yuya, Kougane transforms into Armored Rider Mars and defeats Kouta. Corrupting Gaim into Gaim Yami, the two go after Lapis. However, Ryugen, Baron, and Marika interfere, with Lapis disrupting the mind control on Kouta. Kouta transforms into Gaim Kachidoki Arms and chases Mars in a fight that ultimately allows most of the deceased Riders, whose heart was not fully corrupted like Sigurd and Duke, to return to aid Kouta. Mars emerges with a flaming horse and is defeated by the Armored Riders as the world returns back to normal, also resulting in Lapis' disappearance. Post-Helheim Invasion Kougane survives his encounter in the movie and returns after seven months has passed since the Helheim plants and Inves were removed from Earth. Taking the form of a locust, he possesses a teenage girl as leverage in case if he's at a disadvantage. Using the Black Ringo Lockseed, he is able to assume the form of Armored Rider Jam, a substantially weaker form than Armored Rider Mars, due to the energy in the Golden Ringo Lockseed being completely drained after his original defeat. He seeks out the other Armored Riders for forcing him into disgrace only to realize that Lapis had altered everyone's memories to make it appear as if it were a dream. Taking on Kougane first is Jonouchi, honoring the late Ryoji Hase by transforming into Kurokage. However, Kougane easily defeats Jonouchi without any effort. Next in line to fight against Kougane is Mitsuzane, who puts up a fight despite being at a disadvantage with Jam and Grasshopper Monster against him. Kougane reveals that he's using a human body as his vessel, causing Mitsuzane to cancel his transformation. However, Kouta appears, revealing that he left one loose end and that's Kougane. Kouta destroys the Grasshopper Monster in his wake and forces Kougane out of the girl's body. Kougane is killed by Mitsuzane and Kouta's Rider Kicks as they pushed his own Darkness Au Lait back at him. At the end of the series, the girl who was possessed by Kougane earlier is teaching her two younger brothers, who were the two kids Kouta and Kaito had helped out a long time ago, about the sacred tree and dancing. Arms Like with the other Lockseed-using Kamen Riders, Kamen Rider Mars/Jam's forms are called . His Sengoku Driver does not either play any sort of music or announce something before every transformation, while his personal Lockseeds are styled in pure Japanese. By pressing the Sengoku Driver's Cutting Blade down on the Lockseed after transforming from one to three times, Mars/Jam can activate one of three finishing moves based on his current Arms form: , , or . In addition to the Sengoku Driver's finishing moves, Kougane as Jam can perform a finishing attack by inserting a Lockseed into the Drive Launch of his Musou Saber. - Golden= *'Height': 209 cm. *'Weight': 117 kg. Ability Perimeters2014.11.07 - Chou Zenshu 2014. Kamen Rider Yoroi-take Chou Zenshuu. pages 108-110.: *'Punching power': 18.5 t. *'Kicking power': 19.6 t. *'Maximum jump height': 19 m. *'Maximum running speed': 100 m. per 6.8 sec. is Mars' default golden apple-based European Knight form. Accessed through the Golden Ringo Lockseed, this form's Arms Weapons are the Sword Bringer and Apple Reflecter. This form debuts in episode 37. Golden Arms (and the Golden Ringo Lockseed) is powered through the energy of other Armored Riders. Initially rusted, it starts to unrust when the Armored Riders turn on each other and their deaths are then fueled into the Golden Ringo Lockseed. While this means that Mars Golden Arms is the collective force of all of the fallen Armored Riders, it also means that the Golden Ringo Lockseed requires more and more energy to maintain itself as its power starts to slip. This is first observed during Mars' debut against Kouta where while not omnipotent, Mars overpowered Gaim Orange Arms, fared well against Gaim Banana, Donguri, Durian, and Jimber Lemon Arms. As Mars, Kougane was weakened further when he used his powers to try and to consume Kouta to boost his power, but an unexpected effect happened where Kouta instead turned dark instead of being consumed. After Kouta breaks free from the brainwashing, Gaim Kachidoki Arms was able to fight against Mars Golden Arms with relative ease. By the point where Gaim assumed Kiwami Arms, Mars was wallowing in pain, resorting to assume a Flaming Horse form. After that was defeated, Mars loses most of his energy, resulting into the deceased Riders aiding Kouta. Mars used the rest of his power to summon fire clones of himself, but they are easily dispatched with little effort as shown by Ryugen shooting once to destroy them and Kurokage kicking them for them to fade. In the aftermath at the defeat of the remaining Armored Riders, The Golden Ringo Lockseed was completely drained of its energy, corrupting it into the Black Ringo Lockseed, thus Kougane loses the ability to transform into Armored Rider Mars. Appearances: Episode 37, The Golden Fruit Cup! - Flaming Horse= Mars' body merges with The Flame Horse in the final battle of the movie to fight the Armored Riders and New Generation Riders. Appearances: The Golden Fruit Cup! }} - }} - Jam= - Darkness= Darkness Arms *'Height': 209 cm. *'Weight': 117 kg. Ability Perimeters: *'Punching power': 18.5 t. *'Kicking power': 19.6 t. *'Maximum jump height': 22 m. *'Maximum running speed': 100 m. per 6.2 sec. is Jam's default apple-based Japanese Samurai form. Accessed through the Black Ringo Lockseed, this form's Arms Weapon is the Dark Daidaimaru, while the helmet Jam wears is the with the visor. This form debuts in episode 47. This form is substantially weaker than Mars due to the fact that the Golden Ringo Lockseed was depleted of all its energy, turning it into the Black Ringo Lockseed. Kougane has stated that he has only been able to regain very little of its power back. Despite that, by pure numbers, he does have the strongest punch out of all the Armored Riders, beyond even Gaim, is second to only Kachidoki Arms for kicks and barely is stronger than Duke, can jump as high as Gaim and Baron in Pine Arms and Mango Arms, and barely outpaced by Baron and both Zangetsu and Zangetsu-Shin. Despite this fact, Jam appears to have very low defensive capabilities to the point where even Ryugen was able to injure him alone whereas Mars was able to fight against the surviving Riders in the Soccer World. This Arms' Rider Shooting-based finishing attack has two variations depending on which function Jam activates from his Sengoku Driver. *Squash: Jam summons up to 15 energy apples, then slashes an energized Dark Daidaimaru to send them flying so as to bombard the enemy. *Au Lait: Jam summons a bigger energy apple, then jabs the Dark Daidaimaru into it, sending it flying at the enemy. Appearances: Episode 47 }} - The Golden Fruit= Kougane's ture form }} Powers and Abiilities Manipulation and Containment As the embodiment of the artificial Golden Fruit, Kougane can use the grasshopper-shaped to corrupt and control the Armored Riders of the World of Soccer. After attaining a certain degree of control over the target, he can absorb and contain their abilities to empower the Ringo Lockseed. Disguises Kougane is able to assume multiple human guises. KouganeYuuya.png|"Kougane" - Disguised as Yuya Sumii Kogane gaim movie.png|"Kougane" - middle-aged man Possession Koigane is also capable of possessing humans by using the Evil Seeds. girljam.jpg|"Kougane" - teenage girl Equipment Devices *Sengoku Driver - Transformation device *Lockseeds - Gives access to Mars/Jam's Arms changes, depending on which lock is used. Weapons *Mars: **Arms Weapons - Weapons that come with the Arms: ***Sword Bringer - One of Mars Golden Arms' personal weapons ***Apple Reflecter - One of Mars Golden Arms' personal weapons *Jam: **Musou Saber - Jam's side weapon in every single one of his forms **Arms Weapons - Weapons that come with the Arms, besides the Musou Saber: ***Dark Daidaimaru - Jam Darkness Arms' personal weapon Others * - are grasshopper-shaped minions of Kougane. It contains his sentience, and moves through Kougane's will. These Seeds infect their target by corrupting them, bringing out their inner-evil. After the evil succeeds in suppressing the target, Kougane absorbs them into the Ringo Lockseed. If the evil fails to suppress the target, the seed transforms the target into it's dark form. The seeds can also form into another monster or can be used by Kougane to possess another individual. Behind the Scenes Portrayal Kougane is portrayed by Hero Shock. While under the guise of Yuya Sumii, he is portrayed by . In the series' finale, a girl possessed by Kougane is portrayed by Honoka Ando's Twitter PostScreencapped image of Final Episode revealing the appearance of Kougane.. As Kamen Rider Jam, he is voiced by . As Kamen Rider Mars, his suit actor is , who also served as the suit actor for Kamen Riders Bravo and Kurokage (Ryoji Hase). As Kamen Rider Jam, his suit actor is currently unknown. Notes *His name is derived from the word which means "gold" in Japanese, tying to his origin as part of the Golden Fruit. *According to Kamen Rider Gaim producer, Naomi Takebe, the criteria of the character was to focus on the ability to convey the aura of a god. *Because Kataoka comes from a kabuki background, Mars' transformation pose was designed to feature some relatively slow motion moves in a Kabuki style.Henshin Justice *Similar to the villainous Rider of the previous summer movie, Mars has a dominant gold color. **Both are also non-human Riders. ***With Kougane himself is also a non-Inves monster, he is considered as the third non-Inves monster in Kamen Rider Gaim series, succeeding Pitcher Plant Monster and Grasshopper Monster. *Mars/Jam's transformation announcement is similar to Zangetsu's Melon Arms announcement in the sense that they both invoke a higher sense of authority. In this case, the presence of a God and the presence authorized by a God. **They are also both spoken in full Japanese. **His Golden and Dark Lockseed transformation announcement is a mix between a full Japanese catchphrase and an orchestrated tune that has the highs and lows similar to Baron's announcement. *His rider name "Mars" is also based on the god of war from Roman mythological (Ares in Greek) of the same name. **"Mars", when spelled out in katakana, refers to a genus of apple trees (Malus), which also describes his morality placement, as "Malus" is also Latin for "evil". * Mars is the second Gaim Rider to have a final form that does not involve a Lockseed, with the first being the villain from the previous Gaim movie, Kamen Rider Bujin Gaim. *Jam's suit is a heavy kitbash of other suits. The Pre-Arm suit is a recolored Kamuro/Zangetsu-Shin suit, along with its Rider Indicator. The mouthpiece is also similar to Gaim's/Bujin Gaim's/Lapis'. The back of its helmet, Black Mask, is recolored from Lapis. The Daidaimaru is recolored from Bujin Gaim's standard Daidaimaru. The only addition made purely for the suit is the visor, the violet trim around of which is the kanji , the first kanji in , which means "Evil". *Jam is the third Rider to utilize an apple-type Lockseeds, after its original Rider form Kamen Rider Mars and the Silver Apple Rider Kamuro. **Jam is the first, and only, Armored Rider to utilize an apple-type Lockseed which has no metal color. **Despite being apple-based, Jam's weapon is one that is usually associated with orange-based Arms (Orange, Blood Orange, Fresh Orange, and Black Orange specifically). ***Due to this, Jam is also the first Armored Rider whose Arms Weapon isn't based on the fruit Lockseed represented. ***It might be relate to the idiom "Apples and Oranges", which indicates a false analogy: apples are at fault for not being good oranges, as seen with Gaim and Kougane, or at a deeper level based on their alignments, Good and Evil. *Kougane's Jam form has access to a Musou Saber, however unlike Gaim and Zangetsu, his Musou Saber has no means of attaching to his belt, and was not visible until it appeared without notice in the middle of battle. *Kougane's transformation sequence into Jam may be for intimidation only; during his second battle, he transformed into Jam by will alone, completely skipping the transformation sequence, similar to Kouta's ability to transform directly and immediately into Kiwami Arms after becoming the Man of the Beginning. *The name of Jam's default Arms is the English equivalent of , the title taken by Dark Kouta from Kamen Rider Gaim: The Great Soccer Match! The Golden Fruit Cup!. It is also similar, to a lesser extent, to Ryugen , as well as the code of Jam's Lockseed mirroring that of Ryugen Yomi's Yomotsuheguri Lockseed. *Keeping with the fruit theme of Gaim, Jam's name is a reference to jams, a type of fruit preservative composed of fruits stewed in sugar. *Kougane as Jam is the second Final Boss of the series to be a Kamen Rider, the first one being Kamen Rider Odin. *Kougane as Jam is the first and only female Armored Rider in the series, technicalities aside. **Although Marika is the first female Rider in the series, she is considered a New Generation Rider. *The ending part of the Transformation announcement for both the Golden and Darkness Arms are the same, but with a different last tones. *Despite being genderless and having taken over an bystander for all of his time, Kougane is the first female to be a final boss in the last episode. *Kougane shares with Bravo the ironic situation that despite having bladed Arms Weapons, their finishers are considered to be Rider Shooting finishers. *Kougane's Golden Ringo Lockseed turning into the Black Ringo Lockseed is a parallel to the Forbidden Fruit when it was held in Redyue's hands. *Jam is similar to Dark Shinji and Poseidon as both are an evil non-human Riders who were temporary possessing some hosts before being recently pulled out of the host's body and destroyed in their Rider forms. *As well as Bujin Gaim and Fifteen, each of Kougane's roles in the summer movie and final episode resemble that of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Bible under the New Testament called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. As Mars, he represents "War" because of his ability to cause the Armored Riders and New Generation Riders to turn on each other, causing a war between the factions. As Jam, he represents "Pestilence" due to his companion, the Grasshopper Monster, being able to control the swarm of locust monsters like that of the Ten Plagues of Egypt. *Of all the Armored Riders he absorbed into the Golden Ringo Lockseed, only Ryoma Sengoku and Lock Dealer Sid was not seen released when Gaim defeats Kougane's Flaming Horse Form, thus not seen along with the other Riders in the final attack. The reason for this was not stated, but it is possible that they weren't able to be released because they had the most "darkness" within them. Legend Rider Lockseeds *The following Legend Rider Lockseeds are styled for Mars/Jam, as well as Zangetsu: **Stronger - "Aku wo Taoese to Ore wo yo Bu!" **ZO - "Daijizen Neo Seimeitai!" **Agito - "Mezamero, Sono Tamashii!" **Ryuki - "Tatakawanakereba Ikinokorenai!" **Hibiki - "Tatakikome Kiyome no Oto!" **Momotaros - "Ore Sanjou!" **Fourze Cosmic States - "Minna no Kizuna de Uchu wo Tsukamu!" References Category:Gaim Characters Category:Kamen Rider Gaim Category:Dark Riders Category:Movie Riders Category:Movie-exclusive Villains Category:Evil Kamen Riders Category:Gaim Riders Category:Armored Riders Category:Mystic Riders Category:Heisei Era Riders Category:Neo-Heisei Era Riders Category:Villains Category:Deceased Riders Category:Deceased Characters Category:Non human riders Category:Slasher Riders Category:Female Riders Category:Last Monster Category:Riders whose powers were made for evil